Merchants
From Genco
Only those that possess the skill to create items can name them.
Shops must buy products to sell. Craftsman must crate items to sell to merchants. Players must collect materials and practice create or manufacturing items to increase their skills. This leaves a lot of surplus items that can be sold to merchants, flooding the market with mostly low-level equipment, keeping newbs fed and protected at reasonable costs to the consumer. Because skillsets can be exclusive to a single region, the items produced will be in demand everywhere else, and more so in outlying areas.
Manufacturing skills can be increase by making items that are native to the locale, using native materials. The skillmaster in that town teaches you the items needed to produce items appropriate to the region, and will also increase the skill.
The Empire supplies their markets far and abroad with standard Imperial production shipments, though at a steep price in relation to the cost and abundance of the material or item in that area, as well as for the armored transport necessary in rough country.
Local craftsmen can sell their wares at a much lower price and still make a healthy profit. This also makes available enhanced and modified products not offered by the Empire. This also serves to notify our Staff of new and unique items the Empire might want to sell as its own.
These shipments take time, and fluctuate in size depending on demand. Merchants who can meet their demand with only local sources eventually stop ordering from the Empire altogether, who will not send another with a large enough order.
A contingency of trade with the Empire is usually the submission of a complete list of items being sold periodically. Trusted merchants need only submit a list, while others must be inventoried by Imperial personel. (This will be a task, required to attain a higher, more interesting position.)
Merchants can be bribed or influenced to not perform any task that their skillset includes. He can be convinced to leave items off the Imperial register, or not to sell an item even if there is a demand for it, etc., whichever skill the player possesses and is aware of himself.
